These Eyes Shine Just For You
by CurlyOne
Summary: A series of one shots and what ifs that take place in the same universe as Behind These Shining Eyes. Requests are always welcome!
1. Chapter 1

"Pssst."

Lainey furrowed her eyebrows and looked in the direction of the noise.

Gale Lewis had been the one calling her from a few desks down. Now don't get Lainey wrong, she was a friendly kid, but the fact that Gale was trying to get her attention, struck her as strange. The two almost never spoke, except to say hello in passing.

Gale smiled at her and passed down a folded piece of looseleaf paper, watching as Lainey opened it up and read the note.

_Want to meet a couple of friends and I at the park after school?_ She read.

_I have plans with Sarah after school._ Is what she wrote in response before sending it back.

She wouldn't mind hanging out with Gale, but one, she had plans and two, she wanted to know why she was taking a sudden interest in her.

The piece of paper landing on her desk interrupted her thoughts. _She said she'd come if you did_.

Lainey shrugged and looked at Gale, giving her a thumbs up, indicating that she had accepted the invitation and she would go, pushing down that feeling of unease bubbling in the pit of her stomach.

She could have fun, couldn't she?

"Did you text your m…...guardian?" Sarah asked Lainey as the two walked to the park. The mid-spring breeze flew through their hair as they walked in opposition of the way it blew.

"Yeah, she said it was okay as long as I'm home before dark." Lainey ignored her friend's slip-up. "I texted Peter too, so he knows not to wait for me."

The last thing she wanted was an angry Peter calling her nonstop, beside himself with worry. He may look timid and quiet, but he could be a force to be reckoned with.

"Do you know anything about Gale and her friends?" Lainey asked suddenly.

"Yeah, they're good people, if that's what you're asking." Sarah answered her as they crossed the street. "They do really well in school and they stay out of trouble as much as possible. At least, that's what I heard."

That answer still wasn't enough for Lainey, but against her better judgement, she continued to walk with Sarah until they finally reached their destination. She hoped that she was overreacting, but deep down she knew she wasn't. Something was off about Gale and her friends.

"Hi guys." Gale smiled as they made their way towards her and her friends.

Lainey looked at Gale's friends and saw that they were at _least_ three years older than them. They were dressed in shorts and crop tops with vulgar message written across them. There was nothing wrong with the crop tops, or the shorts, but Lainey knew that if she even _looked_ at something that has a message so vulgar with the intent to wear it, Natasha would murder her and make it look like an accident.

"Guys, these are a couple of friends of mine. Lainey and Sarah." Gale introduced everyone. "Lainey, Sarah. This is Sam, Jane, and Marie."

"Hi." Sarah smiled as the three nodded in her direction. She was trying to make a good impression.

But apparently living with Earth's Mightiest Heroes, eradicated Lainey's ability to care about making a good first impression. "Aren't you cold?" She blurted before her mind could catch up with her mouth.

Sarah's jaw nearly dropped and tension rapidly filled the air.

Sam, Jane, and Marie scrutinized Lainey, who was unmoving, before looking at each other and back at Lainey with identical smiles on their faces.

"We try to ignore it." Marie answered, the tension leaving the air as quickly as it came. "I like you kid, you're unapologetic."

"Anyway." Jane interjected. "That's not we're here for today." She smirked and pulled a box of cigarettes from her Doc Martens.

And as hard as the wind was blowing, Lainey felt like she couldn't get enough air to breathe. Her heart dropped straight down to her stomach and her palms grew sweaty. Her breath quickened as Jane offered everyone a cigarette. Her body tensed and all she could do was stare at the opened box in front of her.

"Well? Aren't you going to take one?" The older girl snapped her out of her daze.

"…...I don't think that's such a good idea." Lainey found her voice.

"How old are you kid?" Marie asked.

"Just turned twelve." Lainey shrugged uncomfortably.

"I thought she was older." Sam furrowed her eyebrows. "We can't give cigarettes to a little kid."

"She isn't a little kid." Jane rolled her eyes. "She's just young. You have to start somewhere." She smiled and lit her cigarette, along with everyone else's, still holding the box out to Lainey.

Lainey shook her head, again, refusing to do something she knew was wrong.

'Eh well, why don't you hold onto this." Jane handed her the entire pack along with a lighter. "Whenever you feel ready, just take one out and smoke."

Lainey looked at the pack of cigarettes in her hand as if they were the plague. She felt as if she was doing something wrong just by holding them.

But curiosity got the better of her, and she pulled a cigarette out of the pack, examining it as if she had never seen one before, and shoving it back in. As much as her mother drank, she never smoked. She used to say the combination didn't sit well with her.

Whatever that meant.

"You just wasted a good pack of cigarettes. Those were _Marlboros_!" Gale rolled her eyes so hard that Lainey thought they might get stuck in her brain if she continued.

"I'll get us some more. Lainey and Sarah can come too if they want to." Jane shrugged, not really caring that she had practically just threw a pack of cigarettes away.

It wasn't her money anyway, it was her mother's.

Her mother always had cigarettes lying around the house. She was a chronic smoker and she didn't care whether or not Jane smoked.

She felt as if she would be a hypocrite if she tried to stop Jane from smoking while she spent most of her days lighting up her cigarettes.

"What do you want to do Lainey?" Sarah asked her friend.

"I don't know."

That was a lie.

Lainey knew exactly what she wanted to do. She wanted to go home and forget all of this ever happened.

But she didn't want to seem childish either.

She was already the youngest at home _and_ the youngest in all her classes and probably the youngest at her school! She didn't want to keep reminding people of the fact.

She also knew that you needed to be a certain age to even walk into a store and buy cigarettes. None of them were even close to eighteen.

This was illegal.

If she got caught, she'd probably go to jail.

But jail was safe, an angry Natasha wasn't.

"Let's go." She sighed, pushing aside all her reasonable thoughts.

She knew she wasn't making the right decision, but maybe it would all end up okay anyway.

The walk to the local Bodega seemed like it was miles long, even though the place was only a couple of blocks away.

With every step, Lainey's body grew heavier and heavier, until she felt like she was dragging a piece of lead around.

She couldn't even try to enjoy doing something rebellious, because she couldn't help but think of what Natasha would think of her or what she would say.

Lainey knew she would be disappointed, that's for sure. Here she was doing something she didn't want to do—something she knew was wrong, and for what? To fit in? To have a little fun?

This was stupid! She couldn't even pinpoint the exact reason why she was _really_ doing this.

"You look tense." Marie threw an arm around her shoulder, pulling her away from her own mind., holding a lit cigarette out to her.

"I have a whole pack in my pocket…..." Lainey gently pushed the item away from her, in an attempt to regain some control. "I don't need it."

"We're going to buy some more anyway." Gale shrugged, not at all caring about the loss of cigarettes anymore. "Just try it, it'll help relax you, I promise."

Well if it would get them, to leave her alone…...It couldn't be _that_ bad, could it?

Lainey allowed the cigarette to enter her mouth and inhaled sharply.

Big mistake.

The smoke entered her lungs and filled them with a burning sensation that she couldn't get rid of no matter how much she coughed.

Her eyes watered and her diaphragm contracted and released, doing its best to grasp the air for any tiny bit of oxygen.

"You're not supposed to inhale on the first try, geez!" Marie rubbed her back, trying to help her.

"Here, let me try." Sam rolled her eyes. "Lainey, lift your arms up."

Lainey did as she was told as was surprised when the coughing spell finally passed. She really didn't think it would. "Thanks." Her raspy voice escaped her throat.

"Are you okay?" Sarah asked, concern etched all over her face.

She was beginning to think that this wasn't such a good idea.

"Yeah." Lainey cleared her throat. "I'm fine. Can we go in now?"

"Sure, just keep your head low and don't draw any attention to yourself." Jane instructed as they stepped in.

Lainey just occupied herself by looking around the store, trying to act like she had no clue what was going on.

She became so distracted by the different kinds of chips and cakes that she didn't even notice when a few cops strolled in.

But she she sure did notice when they told everyone to stop what they were doing and freeze.

Only she didn't freeze.

She ran.

She moved so fast that she knocked down an entire shelf, causing all the potato chips to crash onto the floor, leaving behind a huge mess.

She didn't care, she wasn't getting arrested today.

She ignored the stitch in her side and kept running, trying to lose the cops that were tailing her. The wind whipped through her long, curly locks as she nearly tripped over her own feet, trying to cross the busy intersection, ignoring the honking horns of the cars that nearly hit her.

Her ears picked up the sirens of the squad cars as the officers figured out that the twelve year old was just too quick and slippery to catch on foot.

Rubber burned pavement and shoes slapped concrete as the chase became more intense.

Lainey bumped into anyone who couldn't get out of her way fast enough, clearly angering a few mothers.

Luckily for her, the Tower wasn't but a few feet away, so she kept ducking under arms and crawled between a few legs, finally making it through the front door.

"Good evening Little Romanoff, you are late for dinner. I have alerted Ms. Romanoff of your arrival." F.R.I.D.A.Y. spoke once Lainey hopped in the elevator, frantically pushing the button for her floor so the door would close.

Lainey wiped the sweat from her brow and collapsed against the wall, thinking about what excuse she was going to come up with for being late.

She certainly wasn't going to tell the truth.

How could she? She did everything wrong!

"You're late." Was the greeting she got from Natasha as she came through the door.

"Sorry." It was all she could say, placing her bag by the door.

"Did anything happen that you want to tell me about?"

"What do you mean?" Lainey's eyes widened at the question, sitting down at the island in the kitchen.

"Nothing." Natasha smiled, but there was something behind it that made Lainey nervous. "I'm just asking you a question."

Natasha never just asked questions. She wanted information.

She _knew_ something.

"Are you hungry? Or did you eat with your friends?" The redhead asked, walking to the fridge.

"I'm hungry…...we didn't have time to eat."

Natasha eyed her suspiciously before she dug out some food and stuck it in the microwave. She wondered how long it would take Lainey to admit that something was up.

"How's Sarah?"

"She's okay." That was a lie. She didn't know how Sarah was, because as soon as the cops came, she ran out without looking back.

"Are you sure?" Natasha questioned. "I mean, I heard that she's pretty shaken up. Everything went up in smoke."

"Huh?" Lainey nearly choked on the air in the room.

"Yeah, her mother called me and told me something about Sarah coming home, smelling like cigarettes. I'm just wondering if you know anything about that, because I would hate to think that you went out and did exactly what I told you not to do and then, came home and acted like nothing ever happened." The Russian made no room for Lainey to shrink away from her. "That would _really_ disappoint me."

That was it. That was all she needed to say for Lainey to finally crack.

If there was one thing she didn't want, it was for Natasha to be disappointed in her.

She had done too much for her to let her down.

"Natasha?"

"Yes?"

"I have something to tell you."

"Oh?" Natasha took the food out of the microwave and set it in front of the preteen with a fork. "Go ahead."

"Before I tell you, can you promise me something?"

"Depends. What is it?"

"You can't get mad when I tell you."

"I can't promise you that and I'm _not going_ to promise you that. But I will promise you that as bad as you think this is, I'm not going to kick you out. We'll figure this out together."

"Okay...…Sarah and I hung out with some friends and they smoke."

"Interesting." Natasha tried to keep her face as neutral as possible. "Did you smoke?"

"Yes." Lainey dug into her pocket and handed her guardian the pack of cigarettes and the lighter that were given to her hours before. "Here. I didn't smoke from this pack."

Natasha opened the pack and found all twenty sticks in the box, and sighed in relief.

At least she knew the kid hadn't picked up the awful habit.

"How many did you smoke?"

"Not even one...…I inhaled and I choked on the smoke."

If this scenario wasn't so serious, Natasha would've laughed. Lainey was such a good kid that she couldn't even try to be rebellious.

"Serves you right." Was what she said instead. "You had no business doing what you did today. Why did you smoke?"

"You want to know why?"

"Of course I do."

"I didn't want to do it, but Marie told me that it would calm me down and she wouldn't keep it out of my face, so I took a little puff. I knew it was wrong, but I did it anyway…...I'm sorry."

"We'll figure it out." Natasha reiterated. "Is there anything else that happened?"

"Yes…...we went into a Bodega to get another pack, but I didn't plan on helping! I just went!" Lainey made sure she made that point clear. "Then the police came and I ran all the way here with them chasing me."

Natasha rolled her eyes. This kid didn't get into trouble very often, but when she did, she went to town with it. What was she supposed to do with this information? She was so new to this parenting thing and she didn't want to screw anything up, but at the same time, she couldn't let Lainey get away with something like this.

She was going to have to talk to her about this calmly and rationally.

"Lainey, do you know how dangerous it is to smoke?" She asked, thinking that it was a great way to start her lecture.

"Yes." Lainey fiddled with a loose thread on her sweater.

"Do you really? Natasha questioned. "Because I don't think you do. If you did, you wouldn't have done what you did today."

"But I do!" Lainey insisted. "The nicotine is addicting and the smoke damages your lungs and other things in your body, which is why you shouldn't do it, but I didn't want them to think I was a little kid, so I did!"

There it was.

It was insecurity that drove her to do the wrong thing. That almost changed things.

Almost.

"Lainey, I'm going to tell you something, and you need to listen to me. Okay?"

"Okay." Lainey huffed.

"You are twelve years old, but you've been through a whole lot more than some of the kids in your class ever will. You came out of that so bravely and confidently, why are you so worried about the way people, you don't even know and don't know you, view you?"

"I don't know...…I guess, I'm just tired of people looking at me differently, like I'm some baby that needs protecting. I just wanted to be equal."

"When the police were chasing you, what was the first thing that came to mind?"

"I wanted to run." Lainey's eyebrows furrowed, confused about the change in subject.

"Why?"

"Because I thought I was going to get arrested and put in jail."

"So you didn't think you were safe?"

"No."

"What was the first place you thought of running to?"

"Here."

"Why?"

"Because you're here."

"And you know I would never let anything happen to you." Natasha drove the point home. "Everyone needs to feel safe and protected sometimes, there's nothing wrong with that. Don't try and change who you are, you'll run into trouble the same way you did today, maybe even worse. Always trust the little voice in you head that tells you when something is wrong."

"Okay. I really am sorry."

"I know, but you're grounded for a week. No electronics or hanging our with friends, although I really recommend you refrain from hanging out with those delinquents again."

"Okay."

"Come here." Natasha crooked a finger at her and waited for her to come into arms length before pulling her into her arms for a bear hug. "You're a good kid. You know that?"

"Even after this?"

"Even after this." Natasha confirmed. "Doing something wrong doesn't make you a bad person. What defines you is what you decide to do after. Will you continue to do the wrong thing and not care about how it affects everyone else, or will you learn from it and try to be a better person? That's the difference between a good and a bad person."

"Oh...…so then that means you're a good person too, because if you weren't, you'd still be out there doing bad things, but you're not. You're taking care of me and you're an Avenger."

"I guess we're a couple of good people, huh?" The Russian ruffled the child's hair.

Lainey just growled and tried to push her away to no avail, so she dug her fingers into the former assassin's sides and smirked evilly as the woman screeched and jerked away.

Lainey actually didn't know that she was ticklish, she just thought she'd try it no matter what reaction she got.

Who'd of thought the _the_ Black Widow was ticklish?

"I'm going to kill you!" Natasha breathed out, trying to catch her breath.

"You're going to have to catch me first and if you do, I'll just tickle you again!"

And despite the awful day Lainey had and how long she was grounded for, Lainey couldn't think of a better way to live.

Right there in that Tower, surrounded by so many people that loved her.

* * *

**A/N: Helllooooo! I'm back! Sorry for the very long unofficial hiatus! Writer's block is really getting to me and I had to literally force this one out! Despite that, I really hope that you enjoyed it. I won't be updating Behind These Shining Eyes until after the Black Widow movie comes out, because I want to see how I can incorporate Lainey into the mix. Soooooo, I decided to finally create this story of one shots! Requests are ****always open, so if there is something you would like to see, let me know!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Training Day: *Non-compliant to BTSE***

**A/N: This one is for you AlphaGodzilla19! It was a tall order, but I hope I delivered! Enjoy!**

Curly hair bounced and fell limp as its owner flipped upside down on the training mats that were stacked up in storage, waiting to be used later.

"Hmmph." Lainey grumbled as she threw her legs over her head and flipped over onto her hands, walking around the training room.

It was way different from walking on her hands. She felt like she was going to fall at any given minute and all the blood in her body was rushing to her head, making it difficult to balance.

"Having fun there?" Peter snuck up on her, wearing his Spiderman suit.

"Are you kidding me?!" Lainey screeched at him, her hand slipping on her hair, sending her tumbling onto the floor beneath her with a loud thud.

It didn't help that she fell flat on her face with Peter laughing hysterically at her.

What a jerk.

"Do you need help?" He managed to calm himself enough to ask her.

"No. I don't need, nor do I want your help." She huffed and pushed herself up onto her feet, glaring at the boy she used to call her friend.

"Oh come on." Peter smiled sweetly, poking her side. "It was funny."

"It wasn't funny." Lainey tried to squirm away, while also failing to hide her smile. "You made me fall and then laughed at me. That's bullying and I'm telling on you."

Peter just shook his head and ruffled her hair. She was so dramatic.

"What're you doing here anyway?"

"What? I can't come and hang out with with my favorite Small Fry?"

"Peter."

"I'm kidding!" The arachnid threw his hands up in surrender. "Natasha called me here to train. She says I need to get better at combat instead of relying on my webs most of the time."

"Well I'm glad I'm not you." It was Lainey's turn to laugh. "She's going to kill you."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Alayna."

"You're welcome!"

"Shouldn't you be doing something?" Peter rolled his eyes.

"Nope." Hazel eyes met light brown, challenging them to look away. "Who else are you training with?"

"I think Wanda is coming to watch and give me some tips, but that's about it."

"I want to stay and watch!"

"No! You'll only make fun of me."

"No I won't!"

"Yes you will!"

"No I won't! No I won't! No I—"

"What is it now?" Natasha's tired voice ended the children's petty little argument.

It seemed like every time they hung out, they needed a referee present at all times.

"Arguing again?" Wanda smirked as she and Natasha entered the room. "What did you say Lainey?"

"I didn't say anything! Why do you always blame me?" The twelve year old pouted, crossing her arms.

Well sure, she always did something to provoke Peter or anyone else that would let her, but that didn't mean that Wanda could call her out on it.

She was supposed to be on her side!

"You're always doing something that gets you into trouble." Wanda tapped the girl's lower lip and mock pouted with her. "Poor you."

"Lainey wants to watch me train, but all she's going to do is laugh at me." Peter whined very childishly. "Tell her she can't."

"Tell him I can!" Lainey taunted.

There was something about getting on Peter's nerves that exhilarated her. She practically lived to see his left eye twitch in annoyance while his eyebrows furrowed so low, it made his forehead look a thousand times longer.

It was great.

She loved dragging people down to her level.

"Can't!"

"Can!"

"Can't!"

"If the both of you don't shut your mouths and leave each other alone, you _will _go stand on opposite sides of the room and you _won't_ be training at all." Natasha threatened, clearly tired of having to deal with this everyday. "And _you_ will lose your ice cream privileges for so long, you'll forget what it tastes like." She addressed Lainey.

She knew how to get her where it hurt.

"But—"

"—All I want to hear right now, is silence." Natasha glared at Lainey, making the girl grumble and stomp back over to the mats, irritated that Natasha had ruined her fun and threatened her as if she was some baby.

"You'll be sorry for this Natasha Romanoff!" She spat, channeling her inner Amy March.

But the redhead didn't even give her the satisfaction of paying her any mind.

She just turned back to Peter and asked him if he was ready to train, to which he responded with an enthusiastic confirmation.

As the two got into their fighting stances, Wanda made her way over to Lainey, who was too busy pouting to even acknowledge her presence, and sat down next to her. "Want to know a secret?" The kid could be a real brat sometimes, but she wasn't the type of person you wanted to see upset.

"About what?" Lainey asked roughly.

"This training exercise."

"What about it?"

"Nat's not the only one training him today."

That got a reaction out of the twelve year old, who's head shot up so quickly that Wanda swore she heard the bones crack from the force. A mischievous grin broke out of the girl's face and she looked excited at the opportunity to have "need-to-know" information.

She almost looked like the Grinch with the smile that had graced her lips. It was scary.

"If I tell you, you have to keep quiet about the whole thing. Don't even let on that you know something."

"Of course Wanda."

Let the games begin.

* * *

"Block!" Natasha glared harshly at Peter, knocking his feet out from under him for the millionth time that hour. "What would you do if you were out in the city and someone came at you like that? Run?"

Peter groaned and opened his eyes (they had closed involuntarily once he went plummeting to the ground) and sent her a scathing look that had absolutely no effect on her.

In fact, she retaliated by sending him one of her own signature looks, hiding her smirk when he fixed his face in fear.

"Get up and try again." She helped him stand. "Now try and hit me."

"Ms. Romanoff, I can't hit you." Peter spoke sheepishly.

Hitting her would be like hitting his Aunt May.

And he would _never_ hit Aunt May.

"It's Natasha to you and you can definitely hit me."

"No I can't." He stressed. "Can we please do something else?"

"Fine." Natasha crossed her arms over chest. "If you can't hit me, then maybe you'll be able to hit them."

Peter's eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

Was she okay? There were only four people in the room. Who was the "them" she was referring to?

The young arachnid didn't really have time to question her comment before something whizzed by his ear.

It sounded like…...a bug?

The thought didn't even have time to register because as soon as the buzzing stopped, a heavy weight dropped on his shoulders, forcing him to stumble forward to avoid face planting.

"Relax." The voice was gentle and soothing.

It almost made him want to listen.

"Natasha?" He shot her a nervous glance as his eyes tried to flutter shut. "What's this?"

"You don't want to properly train with me, so I called in a few favors."

Natasha didn't look the least bit concerned for his well-being. It was like she didn't even care.

But he knew better. If Natasha was allowing this to happen, then he had to be safe.

Right?

As Peter's thoughts ran away with him, that buzzing came right back and distracted him from fighting the soothing voice coming from the top of his shoulder. His legs began to feel like jelly and his eyes began rolling to the back of his head in defeat.

But he would _not_ give in.

Not today.

He used the last bit of willpower in his body and flicked his wrist, shooting a web up onto the ceiling and propelling himself upward, knocking the strange person off of him.

"Who are they?" Lainey asked, enjoying from the sidelines.

"The one on his shoulder is Mantis and the one buzzing by his ear is Hope."

"Hope?"

"Yeah, she's the Wasp." Wanda smiled, watching the show.

Hope had anticipated Peter's movement and flew as fast as she could, slicing his webbing, causing him to plummet towards the mats below.

As annoyed as Lainey was with him, she didn't want to see him get hurt, so she reached her hands out, surrounding him with her purple wisps, and did her best to lower him gently to the ground.

"That was good Lainey." Wanda praised. "You're getting better."

"Can I help him? I wanna do something too."

She was eager to get out there and fight.

Sometimes Natasha gave her a few lessons in self-defense, but she didn't really want her to throw herself into a fight.

She didn't want her to turn out the way she did.

"No." Natasha shook her head. She couldn't have Lainey turning into a child soldier. She had gone through enough as it is, and she wasn't about to add to the load. "Stay here." She sat down next to the two and pulled Lainey onto her lap.

"I can do it!" Lainey wiggled like a worm to get away, to no avail.

"No, sit here and watch. If you can stop wiggling, then_ maybe_ I'll show you a few things."

"Yay." Lainey grinned and relaxed, knowing that she had just gotten exactly what she wanted without even trying hard to get it.

Natasha was soft.

"Peter, watch your six!" The redhead yelled out to him as a blue woman came out of the shadows and flipped him over.

"Who's that?" Lainey asked, pointing at the woman.

"That's Nebula and the woman next to her is Gamora." Natasha explained, pushing Lainey's arm down. "Stop pointing, it's rude."

Lainey sighed and slumped over.

Sometimes Natasha could be _such_ a mother!

Don't slouch, it's not good for your back. Don't point it's rude. Stop whining, I can't hear you when you do. Stop bothering Peter, he's tired.

She wouldn't even let her train!

Just because she was twelve didn't mean she couldn't do anything. She had gotten into plenty of fights back before she met Natasha and she had always won.

It's a good thing Wanda still hadn't told her about all the hand-to-hand combat training they had been doing in secret.

She was very grateful.

"How else am I supposed to ask you who they are?" Lainey asked in a "duh" tone, after much deliberation.

"That's for you to figure out, not me. You're the one that wants to know, smart-aleck." Natasha smirked.

"I'm not a smart-aleck." Lainey tried to hide her grin, because she wanted to be annoyed with her mother. "It isn't nice to call people names you know."

The two redheads shared a look and smirked, the kid was too cute and way too easy to annoy.

A loud crash startled Lainey and purple mist surrounded her hands, ready for confrontation. She wasn't the only one ready for a real fight.

Nebula and Gamora crouched down next to each other and looked around, waiting for the source of the sound to show itself. Hope, having changed into her normal size, shrunk back down and kept her eyes focused. Peter easily hopped up on the ceiling, knowing he could see everything better from above.

He wasn't concerned, but the hairs on his arms and neck were practically standing on their own.

"Carol!" Natasha ran a hand over her face. "I told you _not_ to freak the kid out!"

"It wasn't my idea! It was Shuri's!" A woman with blonde hair and a suit similar to Steve's uncurled herself from behind some mats with another person, Shuri, Lainey guessed, who had some weird looking weapon that used energy as its ammo.

"What part of 'Sneak Attack', was unclear to you?"

"I like to make an entrance." Shuri grinned.

While they were all distracted, Peter, Wanda, and Lainey shared a look and got to work.

Wanda's red mist forced Nebula and Gamora to fight each other as quietly as possible, successfully freaking the two out.

It was only a matter of time before they knocked each other out.

Peter decided that he would web Mantis up, to keep her from playing her mind games with him again, so he wrapped his webs around her like a cocoon and hung her from the ceiling.

He even went as far as webbing up her mouth, so she couldn't distract anyone else.

"How is the kid supposed to learn what to do in an emergency situation, if you can't follow simple instructions?" Carol rolled her eyes.

She couldn't work like this.

Lainey poked Natasha's cheek to see if she was really focused on the conversation at hand. So when the Russian, pushed her hand away distractedly, she grinned evilly and went to work.

Her purple mist caused Hope to grow back to her natural size, but she was unable to do anything.

Her feet felt like they were glued to the ground. "Guys? I hate to break up your little family squabble but we need—"

Hope gasped as her mouth stopped moving right in the middle of her sentence, catching the attention of Shuri.

But before she could say anything, Wanda used her free hand and kept her mouth closed, enabling Peter to web her up quietly before moving on to Hope, Nebula, and Gamora.

Now there were only two more.

_Peter, you get Carol. Lainey and I will get Nat._ Wanda communicated through their thoughts.

"Look!" Lainey pointed at everyone that was webbed up in the room.

"What the heck?" Carol's eyebrows scrunched together.

Had they really been that invested in their conversation that they hadn't been paying attention to all this?

"Shuri, what hap— Nevermind." Carol noticed the teenager's mouth was practically glued shut by Peter's webbing so that she couldn't say anything.

"Now!" Wanda shouted suddenly.

Lainey whirled around and tackled Natasha, making them both crash onto the floor.

Natasha was definitely stunned by the attack. She had never thought that Lainey of all people would turn on her like this.

But as shocked as she was, she wasn't going to let her win.

"You want to fight? Fine!" The redhead rolled over and pinned Lainey's hands over her head and wiggled her fingers above the girl's underarms.

"No! No! No!" Lainey screamed and tried to kick herself free, but Natasha noticed and pinned her legs, rendering her immobile. "I don't want to fight!"

"Too late." Natasha dug her fingers in the child's underarms, making her scream with unbridled laughter. "Tell me, how are you going to get yourself out?"

"Let me gooooo!"

"I just asked you something. Can you answer me?" Natasha grinned.

"Nooo!"

"Here." The Russian let her arms go. "I'll give you a fighting chance."

Lainey squealed and called out for Wanda and Peter to help her, but the two just stood over them with sneaky smiles on their faces.

"Help me!" Lainey pleaded with them, feeling her resolve breaking.

"I don't know Peter, should we help her?" Wanda asked playfully.

So they betrayed her.

Cute.

"Nope." Peter popped the 'p'. "She's been annoying me all day. Natasha, you should try her feet. Look."

Lainey jerked and screamed when she felt Peter taking her shoes and her socks off, doing everything she could to get away, but with two people holding her down, she didn't stand a chance.

"Wanda help me!"

"I think I'll just watch." The older teen smirked and pulled out her phone to record everything. "The team is going to want to see this."

"You're mean!" Lainey whined, trying her best to catch her breath. "I helped you! I didn't have to!"

"Alright. Alright. Fine." Peter stopped his attack and stood up. "Think she's had enough?"

Natasha stopped and stared at her daughter, letting her breathe before she asked, "I don't know, have you?"

"Y….yes…..st…..stop!"

They had been tickling her for so long that even though they had stopped, Lainey felt as though she was still being tickled.

It was so refreshing to hear her laugh.

"Okay." She relented, releasing the child from her hold and standing up. "Come on, get up."

Lainey was still giggling uncontrollably on the ground and couldn't get up even if she tried.

So Natasha, who decided to be nice, lifted her up and set her on her hip, rubbing her back to try to help her calm down.

The twelve year old was laughing so hard it sounded like she was crying.

And technically, she was. Her face was beet red and there were a flood of tears rolling down her face that she had lost control of several minutes ago.

Her cheeks were in pain from smiling so hard, but she was so happy, she didn't care.

"Does anyone else feel like getting ice cream? Or is it just me?" Wanda winked at her pseudo-sister.

"Theres this really cool new ice cream place a few blocks away." Peter caught on, looking at Natasha with wide, puppy dog eyes.

"Enough with the eyes." The woman rolled her own. "I see where Lainey gets it from now."

"Can we go?"

"Go put your coats on." She set Lainey down and ushered them all out, waiting until they were out of earshot before looking at everyone who was webbed up.

"MMMMM!" Carol writhed on the ground, trying to set herself free.

Everyone else had given up and accept their fate, but she refused.

"Are you trying to say something to me?" Natasha asked mocking her.

"MMMM!"

"You want me to free you?" Carol nodded as best as she could. "You all failed your mission. You don't get ice cream."

If Carol could drop kick her right now, she would.

She was soooo going to get her back.

"The webs should dissolve in two hours, maybe you all should take a nap until then, hmm?"

Oh yeah.

She was _so_ getting her back for this.

* * *

**A/N: And that's all for this shenanigan-filled chapter! I enjoy receiving your requests, they keep my writer's block away! XOXOXO.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Baby You Can Drive My Car:**

**A/N: This one is for you,** **Sojie204. I hope you enjoy!**

"Are you sure Mama's going to be okay with this?" Lainey asked Tony, not at all believing that Natasha would be remotely alright with her twelve year old daughter driving a car in the middler of Upstate New York.

She had been staying on Tony and Pepper's floor for the past few days because Natasha had been sent on an emergency mission in Budapest. Again.

Make no mistake, Natasha's first choice of a babysitter would've been Steve, but he was being sent on that mission too.

Her second choice was Bruce, but he was too afraid of hulking out in her presence that he didn't even want to take the chance.

So that left Tony or Wanda.

Well, before Wanda was called in on the mission too. She needed the experience and Natasha wanted to be the one to teach her everything she needed to know.

So that meant leaving her only child in Tony's incompetent hands. Fortunately, Pepper lived on the floor and assured Natasha that she would come home to Lainey in one piece.

That was _before_ Tony had decided to teach the kids how to drive. It was a life saving skill, right? It was better that they learn now than later anyway!

Welp, what Pepper didn't know wouldn't kill her.

"Relax. Live a little." Tony nudged her playfully. "Mama's not here and this is perfectly safe."

"Anytime you have Lainey behind the wheel of a car, nothing is safe." Peter piped up from the backseat.

"Oh haha, very funny." Lainey grumbled, not wanting to admit that he was right.

"Do you know what to do first?" Tony asked, ignoring their argument like everyone usually did.

"Turn the key?" Lainey spoke in a 'duh' tone.

"Put on your seatbelt smart-aleck, safety first." Tony responded in the same way.

"My seatbelt _is_ on."

"I didn't ask you if it was on." Tony shot back. "I asked you what you were supposed to do first. So again, what are you supposed to do first?"

"Put on my seatbelt." Lainey mumbled, glaring at Tony.

"That's a strong glare, are you sure you want to drive today? We can always reschedule if your attitude is going to get in the way—"

"—Attitude?" Lainey put a smile on her face. "What attitude? I love you Uncle Tony."

Tony looked at the preteen and smirked, knowing he had won. "She always like this?" He asked Peter jokingly, already knowing the answer.

"Only when she wants something." Peter responded, never looking up from his phone.

"No! I meant what I said!" Lainey defended herself from all this slander.

Okay _maybe_ she had built herself a reputation and maybe she _was_ just trying to get what she wanted, but that didn't mean that she didn't mean what she said.

"Sure." Peter nodded, clearly over it.

Lainey was always _such a child_. Not in a bad way. She was just so innocent and juvenile that everyone around her had to treat her as such from time to time.

Especially after the trauma Allison had put her through.

That had only made it worse.

But Bruce said that it was okay. It was just her mind's way of coping with it. He said a lot of children her age who have been in similar situations did it and eventually grew out of it once they realized that they were safe and didn't have to do it anymore.

It wasn't the best coping mechanism, but it was a safe one. She could've been doing a lot worse, and she did have some pretty awful days, but Natasha was very patient and always made sure that she was alright.

Peter would never stop thinking about how grateful he was to Natasha for stepping up and literally saving Lainey from that woman who gave birth to her.

Something he couldn't do.

He'd never get rid of that guilt and it ate away at him everyday.

Maybe some part of him knew that it wasn't his fault and he couldn't have known.

But he _should've. _

_He_ was her protector. He was her _brother_. He was the one who was supposed to see all the signs, but it seemed like since he had become Spiderman, he couldn't even save the person that mattered most to him (besides Aunt May of course).

And that really tore him up inside.

"Peter?" Lainey's small voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Are you okay? I was asking you something, but you looked like you were somewhere else. Where did you go?"

"I'm fine." Peter plastered a fake smile onto his face. "I love you Lainey, you know that, right?"

Lainey furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and shared a look with Tony before nodding. "Sure I do. You show me everyday. Why? Are you sure you're okay? You're not dying, right?"

"No!" Peter verified quickly before she started freaking out. "I just wanted to let you know is all."

"Oh." Lainey visibly relaxed. "I love you too Petey-Pie."

Man, Peter loathed, despised, hated, and abominated that nickname.

But he'd let it go because they were having a moment.

"And you too Uncle Tony."

"I love you too _Neonata_." Tony smiled gently before turning to Peter. "And I don't hate you Spider-Baby."

"Gee thanks." Peter smirked, knowing exactly what he had meant. "You're not so bad yourself."

"Now can we please get back to driving and leave all this mushy stuff behind us. I feel like running myself over with this car just to gain back my masculinity."

Lainey smirked, but nodded, asking him how to move the car.

"Okay, you're not driving stick, so you don't need to worry much about gears, we'll get to that later." Tony began the lesson. "Turn on the ignition and look around to see if anything is in your way before you pull off."

Lainey did as she was told, but had trouble smoothly stepping on the gas.

The car jerked and the tires screeched as she stepped heavily on the gas and then slammed on the brakes.

"Gently! Step on the gas gently!" Tony cried out as his head nearly hit his head on the dashboard. "Are you trying to kill us?!"

"No!" Lainey shook her head. "Don't yell at me, it makes me nervous!"

"You're driving habits are making me nervous! I'm not even thirty-five yet and you're trying to put me in an early grave!"

"Uncle Tony?" Lainey rested her hands on the wheel.

"Yes?"

"You're way past thirty-five and if being IronMan hasn't put you in an early grave, then me driving a car definitely won't. Pepper might put you in one though."

Peter snorted at the look of horror that etched itself on Tony's face.

"I don't think I like this new you." The billionaire, playboy philanthropist responded, clearly to old for the pout that graced his lips. "The Lainey I know would never threaten me with my CEO."

"I like this new Lainey." Peter grinned.

"I don't." Tony reiterated. "And I'm going to tell Red how horrible you've been to me all day."

"She won't care. She told me to be mean to you."

"Why doesn't that surprise me." Tony rolled his eyes. "Just drive."

Lainey stepped on the gas with such a heavy foot, that everyone's head smacked the back of their seats and the tires screeched on the asphalt before taking off.

"Stop the car! What are you doing?!"

"This isn't much different than driving bumper cars!" Lainey giggled maniacally, swerving on a turn.

"Stop the car! We're gonna die! Tell Pepper I love her and she's always right!" Tony was nearly in tears as he gripped the handle about the passenger door. "Make it stop!"

"Lainey do you want us to die?!" Peter struggled to keep himself upright as Lainey took another sharp turn. "Do women just not slow down when they turn?!"

After a grueling five minutes, Lainey hit the breaks, making Peter smack his head into the back of Tony's seat. "I'll kill you!"

"Get out of the car." Tony breathed heavily.

Lainey giggled, having had loads of fun and unbuckled her seatbelt before getting out of the car. "How did I do?"

"You drive like your mother." Tony's hands shook as he unbuckled his own seatbelt, stumbling out of the car. "You two have it out for me. You do. I'm not going to make it to fifty. This is it for me. My number is up. I've wasted so much time. There's so much I haven't done."

Lainey and Peter shared a look as he got out of the car.

Tony had always been so dramatic.

One day Lainey hid behind the couch and scared everyone who walked by, jumping out and screaming.

She hadn't managed to scare Pepper or Natasha, but she did get a few disapproving looks from Steve and Wanda.

Killjoys.

When it came time to scare Tony, the man dropped everything he was holding and bent so his hands were on his knees as he tried to control his breathing, mumbling something in Italian.

Lainey couldn't speak Italian, but it was close enough to Spanish for her to understand that he was saying something about how he was going to kill her and hide her body in one of his suits.

That plan was way too specific for Lainey's liking, so she ran down the stairs with him following her, jumping straight into her mother's arms, completely interrupting her conversation with Laura who was visiting for the weekend, pretending to have been the innocent party.

"Mama, he's trying to kill me! Ask him!" Was what she said.

"Tony?" Natasha arched an eyebrow and spoke as if she was scolding a child.

"She tried to kill me!"

"That's not true. Mama you know I would never!" Lainey wrapped her arms around her neck. "I'm only twelve!"

Laura guffawed at that added comment, knowing her niece well enough to know that she was attempting to play everyone in the room.

She was a little monster and they all knew it.

But they wouldn't change her for the world.

She livened up their lives.

There was nothing they wouldn't do for her.

Including teaching her to drive illegally.

"You ready Peter?" Tony asked, cutting Lainey's little memory short.

Peter jumped into the driver's seat, smiling from ear to ear, ready to show off what he could do.

He put on his seatbelt, turned the key and pulled off responsibly, not going too fast or too slow.

It certainly bade well for Tony's physical health.

His palpitations came to a stop and he could finally inhale normally, seeing as they weren't about to crash into anything.

It was his fault anyway.

What kind of sensible adult allowed a twelve year old to drive by themselves?

None.

He was an impulsive idiot and as soon as Natasha found out, which she would, she'd maim him and give his remains to Pepper.

"Nice and easy Peter." He tried to push the frightening thought from his mind. "You're doing well."

"Cool." Peter chuckled proudly. He was really good at this.

Maybe he could start driving himself to and from school without having Happy do it.

"Lainey? You okay back there?" Tony asked the child who had become suspiciously quiet in the backseat.

When he didn't receive a response, he turned to look back at her and found her fast asleep, with her head leaning up against the window.

She was in such a deep sleep that her mouth was hanging open and drool was dripping out of her mouth.

She was _not_ a sight for sore eyes.

But she looked so young and peaceful. Like a toddler taking a nap.

"Alright, one more spin around the lot and then we go home." He told the older child.

"She always falls asleep in the backseat." Peter smiled, looking in the rearview mirror. "Can I drive us home?"

"Don't push your luck."

* * *

"You guys must've had a busy day." Natasha commented, watching as Peter and Tony piled out of the elevator with Alayna in the latter's arms, still out cold.

"She's a pretty deep sleeper when she wants to be." Tony rubbed the twelve year old's back firmly, just to prove a point.

She didn't even stir.

But she did talk her sleep. "Brakes are left…...gas…...is right…...not fast Uncle...…Tony…...I drive...….like…...Mama…..."

Natasha and Pepper's faces contorted into the very same glare at the very same time, successfully scaring both Tony and Peter.

"What does she mean, she drives like me?" Natasha growled.

"Funny story and I really think you two are going to love it." Tony laughed nervously. "See I took the kids out for a ride and I figured…...why not teach them how to drive?"

"You had my underaged child in the driver's seat of a moving vehicle?" Natasha's glare grew impossibly harsher as she practically snatched Lainey from his arms.

Lainey felt her mother's familiar touch and relaxed into her, her hand finding the arrow necklace she always kept around her neck. "Not…...fast…...Mama's…..gonna be…...mad."

Natasha rubbed her back and shushed her, before turning her attention to Peter. "And you." She watched as all the color drained from the teen's face. "You didn't think to call a responsible adult? Or were you in on this?"

"Uhhhh." The young spider looked to Tony for help, grimacing when all he got was a shrug in return. "You know? I'm really tired too. I think I'll go and take a nap or something." He rushed towards his room, keeping a large, chasmic like distance between him and Natasha.

"Yeah, you better." Natasha snarled dangerously. "You're lucky I have the kid in my arms."

"Oh I know!" Tony raised his arms to surrender. "I appreciate the circumstances and I'm not going to push my luck."

"I've got him." Pepper smiled humorlessly. "You go upstairs."

Natasha nodded, knowing that Pepper would get her point across and made her way to the elevator.

She took her time taking Lainey to her room, trying to make up for the time she was away, finally putting her on her feet to wake her up so she could change into her pajamas.

"Wake up _моя любовь_. You can't sleep in those clothes."

Lainey whined and tried to push Natasha's hands away so she could lean on her again.

She was so tired, why wasn't her mother letting her sleep?

Wait a minute—

"Mama!" She opened her tired eyes and smiled. "You're home early."

"Mmhmm." Natasha smiled in return. "Missed me?"

"Maybe." Lainey giggled when Natasha ran her fingers over her stomach to tickle her. "Yes!"

Natasha grinned, but stopped so she didn't wake her up too much, she still wanted her to sleep. "Come on, change out of these clothes so you can sleep."

"In the middle of the day?" Lainey scrunched her nose in protest. "I'm twelve, I don't need a nap. I won't take one."

She wasn't going to be forced to take a nap.

Absolutely not.

She _wasn't _a baby.

"Oh really?" Natasha's smile dropped from her face and was immediately replaced with her 'Mom Look'. "Is that what you think?"

On second thought, maybe it was better to just go to sleep.

Everyone needed sleep right?

"I think I'm tired." Lainey made herself yawn before nearly tripping over her feet to change into her pajamas.

They were Captain America pajamas with a big shield on the shirt and little shields on the bottoms.

Steve thought they were too cute, but Lainey hated them with a passion.

"I'll wake you up in a few hours." Natasha cupped her chin after tucking her in, much to her chagrin. "Sleep."

"Fine, but if anyone asks, I'm doing this because I want to, not because you forced me to. You can't make me do anything I don't want to."

Okay, so obviously Lainey was too tired to realize that she had just lost her mind.

"What was that?" Natasha asked as she sauntered over to the door. "You don't want ice cream for the next month?"

"No Mama!" Lainey sat up and crawled to the end of her bed. "I need ice cream!"

"Ah ah ah!" Natasha pointed a finger at her daughter, making her freeze. "Don't get off that bed."

"But my ice cream!"

"You mean _my_ ice cream." The Russian smirked. "Maybe if you're good and take a nap, you can have a small scoop."

"That's not fair!"

"_Приходи беда, давай съедим немного мороженого. Алайна дремлет, и она не должна беспокоить_." Natasha allowed the kitten to exit the room before close the door behind her.

"Mama come back! I want ice cream when I wake up!" Lainey threw a pillow at the door, making Natasha laugh. "You can't do this to me! You're really mad at Tony, not me! Don't take your frustration out on me! Mama! You can't leave me here! Don't you love me?!"

After all her yelling stopped, Lainey collapsed onto her bed and sighed.

Maybe she should've just listened and kept her mouth shut.

Hmmph.

Her mother was mean.

"Lainey Bug is dramatic isn't she?" She heard Natasha say from behind the door. "She _really_ doesn't want that strawberry ice cream sundae that I planned on making later, does she? That's okay, we'll share it with Peter."

"Noooo!" Lainey screeched and tumbled underneath her sheets. "I'll go to sleep!"

"See _озорство_?" Natasha smirked knowingly at the kitten. "I always get what I want."

* * *

**_Neonata - Babygirl_**

**_моя любовь - My Love_**

**_Приходи беда, давай съедим немного мороженого. Алайна дремлет, и она не должна беспокоить - Come Mischief, Alayna is napping and we shouldn't bother her._**

* * *

**A/N: Hello everyone! I hope you're having a good week! Due to current events, my schooling is now being done online, which has given me plenty of time to write these one shots! So if you have any requests you'd like to make, you are more than welcome to send them my way! Entertain me! :) XOXOXO**


	4. Chapter 4

**I Don't Need Therapy!**

"Leave me alone!"

"Lainey, it was just a joke." Peter tried to rectify his mistake before Lainey made a federal case out of it.

All he said was, she looked like a little koala each time she latched onto someone.

He didn't mean anything by it, in fact, he thought she looked cute seeking comfort from some of the toughest people in the world.

But obviously, Lainey didn't see it that way.

"Well it wasn't funny!" Lainey crossed her arms and sent him a dangerous glare. "I'm not clingy! There's nothing wrong with me!"

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with you!" Peter bit back.

"Yes you did! You said I look like a koala!"

"What is it this time?" Natasha asked, coming out of her room with a closed book.

She had been relaxing in her room, reading a Russian book when she heard all the noise coming from the living room.

All she wanted was one day of peace and quiet.

And did she get it?

Of course not!

"He's making fun of me!" Lainey growled, pointing a strong finger of accusation at Peter.

No one had ever seen her so mad.

Her face was all red and scrunched up, and her eyes were watering with tears that she refused to let fall.

But Peter couldn't figure out why she was so upset.

There were times where he had actually insulted her and all she did was laugh and give him the same treatment. Today it seemed as if she was on the warpath for every little thing.

"That's not true! I said you look like a little koala when you hug people, I didn't mean anything by it!"

"Yes you did! You were making fun of me!" The twelve year old launched herself at the older boy.

Peter managed to catch her, but he was so caught off guard by the fact that Lainey had actually, physically attacked him, he fell under her surprise weight.

"What are you doing?!" He tried to dodge the fists that were flying towards his face. "Get off me!"

Lainey ignored him and kept slugging him as hard as her body would allow her to. He wouldn't get away with saying something like that to her.

Never.

She didn't care who he was, she was seeing red.

No one else was in the room except her and Peter.

"Alayna Anuva, get up, now!" Natasha scolded, crossing her arms.

She hoped that that would be enough to snap Lainey out of it, but the child seemed to be so angry, she hadn't heard her.

Either that, or she just didn't care.

"Aunt Nat! Get her off!" Peter struggled under Lainey as she pulled his hair.

Natasha growled and took ahold of Lainey's small waist, and yanked her off of Peter, setting him free.

The poor boy has such a bewildered look on his face, but at least he was calm. He fixed himself without so much as a mumble after he stood back up on his feet.

Lainey on the other hand, was like a wild animal.

She kicked, screamed, and tried to rip herself out of her mother's grip to no avail.

"Stop it. _Now_." Natasha snarled in her ear, making her stop all movement. "Apologize."

"No!" Lainey refused, glaring at Peter. "Make him take it back!"

"Alright." Natasha took in a deep breath while internally counting to ten, releasing the brunette. "Tell me what happened. Calmly."

"Well, everything was fine at first." Peter started, noticing that Lainey wasn't making an attempt to say anything. "Then I said something that upset her and she started screaming at me, and then she attacked me." He still couldn't believe it.

"What did you say?"

"I said she looks like s little koala when she latches onto people to hug them. I didn't mean anything by it, but she flipped out on me."

Natasha fought not to roll her eyes.

She didn't want to invalidate Lainey's feelings on the matter, but she really felt like that was a stupid thing to react like that to.

"Alayna, I'm sorry I hurt your feelings. I'll try harder to consider your feelings next time around." Peter apologized sincerely.

Because despite being 'beat up' by a twelve year old, he still felt bad that it was something that he said that made her spin out of control like that.

"Hmmph." Was all he got in return.

"Alayna, do you have anything to say for yourself? Because right now, it's not looking too good for you." Natasha glared at her. "I understand that Peter said something that didn't sit well with you, but that was no reason for you to physically attack him. You know better. Apologize."

"No." Lainey met Natasha's glare with one of her own.

Peter's eyes widened as he realized that he was going to witness Lainey's last moments.

Had she lost her mind? What would possess her to say that?

All she had to do was say sorry and move on.

Now Natasha was probably going to kill her and hide the body.

"No?" The redhead bristled, her annoyance quickly morphing into anger. "No?"

If Lainey wanted to be a rebel, that was fine with her. She'd just never see the light of day again.

And she'd better hope that her room had everything she needed in it, because if she kept this up, she'd never leave it again.

"Leave me alone!" Lainey hissed, not at all caring about how aggressive she was coming off.

"Fine, I'll leave you alone." Natasha nodded. "Go to your room and don't come out."

"No!

Now, Natasha knew this day would come eventually.

She would tell Lainey to do something and Lainey wouldn't want to do it, and then she would act out.

But she had no idea that it was going to be this bad.

It was like looking at an entirely different person.

This couldn't be Lainey.

Not _her_ Lainey.

"Go to your room. _Now_." She advanced on her, expecting the action to get the preteen to move, but instead, she screamed and crumbled onto the ground, covering her head.

And all at once, the energy in the room changed.

"Don't hit me! I'll say sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She wailed, crawling behind the island stools for protection.

She was trembling like a leaf and her hands were gripping the legs of the stools so hard, her knuckles were white.

"M'sorry Mommy…..." She whispered, afraid that if she was too loud, Natasha might lash out at her.

"No baby." All the anger in Natasha's body dissolved as she knelt down to meet the child's eyes, but Lainey immediately looked away. "You know I would never hurt you. We've talked about this. You're safe here. Nothing is going to happen to you. Can you look at me honey?"

Lainey shook her head, biting her lip so hard she drew blood.

"_Miráme por favor cariño. Se puede niña_."

And by speaking in Lainey's mother tongue, Natasha got her to look up.

Lainey's face was streaked with fat tears and her bottom lip quivered so fast, her teeth couldn't get it to keep still. Her body was on high alert and Natasha knew that any sudden movements could set her off again.

"Lainey, who's that?" Natasha asked, pointing to Peter, who was still standing near them in a daze.

He'd never seen anything like this and it was scary.

"Peter." Lainey answered softly.

"Would Peter ever hurt you?"

"N…...No."

"_Quién soy yo_?"

"Mama."

"And would I ever hurt you?"

"No."

"Don't you think you're safe enough to come out of your hiding place?" Green eyes pierced hazel. "It's a pretty good hiding place, but I don't think you need it right now, do you?"

Lainey shook her head and slowly crawled onto her mother's lap, relaxing a bit when the woman put her arms around her.

"You're okay. Everything is going to be alright."

It was in that moment, that Natasha decided that Lainey really needed to see a therapist.

* * *

"Stop tugging on my hair." Lainey glared at Owen, a boy in her class.

He had been bothering her all morning, and given the weekend Lainey had, she had little to no patience for these ridiculous antics. There were but so many hair tugs and shoulder bumps she could take.

She and Peter had made up, but she had to go to bed early for her troubles.

It was better than other alternatives she supposed.

At least no one touched her ice cream.

"What are you going to do about it?" He smirked.

"This." The smirk was wiped off of Owen's face when Lainey's fist connected to his nose with a satisfying crack.

Owen hollered as the blunt force from the blow knocked him off his feet as blood flew out of his nostrils. "It was just a joke!" He whined as a nosy crowd began to form. (Haha punny :P)

But Lainey wasn't done yet, she let her anger get the better of her and jumped on top of the boy, still giving him what for.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Lainey felt someone, trying to pull her back, but she paid no attention to them, she just kept punching.

Luckily for Owen, the shock wore off, and he actually began to fight back, managing to clip her in the eye.

And it was just enough to wriggle from underneath her and run away.

Only, he didn't make it very far.

They had been fighting down the hall from the principal's office, so when the entire hallway erupted in a commotion, the Mr. Morita rushed out to see what all the fuss was about.

So Owen, not looking where he was going, ran right into him, spilling some of his nose goo onto the man's shirt and tie.

You wouldn't believe how quickly the halls cleared after that, leaving the two suspects and the principal alone.

"My office. Now."

The two kids reluctantly trudged into his office and flopped down in his chairs, still glaring at one another.

"What happened?"

"She hit me!"

"He started it!" The two spoke at the same time.

"One at a time please." Mr. Morita ran a hand over the stressed features of his face.

He wasn't paid enough for this.

"Lainey broke my nose!" Owen blurted, still holding his bleeding nose.

"I've called the nurse, she should be here shortly." The man explained. "Why did Lainey punch you?"

"Because she's crazy!"

"I am _not_ crazy!" Lainey leapt onto her feet. "Stand up and fight me like a man so I can give you a busted lip to match your nose!"

"Sit down!"

Lainey glared at both the males in the room, but did as she was told. "He had it coming."

"Why?"

"Because he's been bugging me all day!"

"By doing what?" This was like pulling teeth!

"Tugging my hair and pushing me!"

"I understand your frustrations, but you really shouldn't have fought violence with violence."

"So what was I supposed to do?" Lainey questioned. "If you hit someone, you get hit back!"

"Not in this school. You were supposed to go to an adult. Please type in your mother's phone number." Morita passed the landline to the irate preteen.

Hopefully this day didn't get any worse.

* * *

"Hi Mama." Lainey greeted the redhead without looking up from her lap.

Natasha took in the scene in front of her and narrowed her eyes.

There was a kid, a little bigger and definitely a lot stronger than Lainey, sitting to the left, holding an icepack to his nose. Blood covered his shirt and it looked like he would have more luck throwing the shirt away than trying to get the stain out of it.

On the right, Lainey was sporting a black eye and a grim look. She knew she was at fault for this stunt, because there were better ways of solving issues.

"Explain."

"She broke my nose!" The boy cried out.

Natasha gently took the ice pack from him and prodded at his nose, making him flinch back and hiss in pain. "It's busted, but it isn't broken. You're going to have a nasty bruise for a while, but you'll be fine."

"That's what the nurse said." He rolled his eyes petulantly. "I still think it's broken."

"Mr. Thompson, please do not pick arguments with adults."

Natasha's eyebrows rose at the revelation of the boy's last name. "Mr. Thompson?" She questioned. "Any relation to Flash?"

"Yeah, he's my brother, why?"

"Your brother has been tormenting my nephew. Now you're following in his footsteps and tormenting my kid?" She growled like a cat that just found its prey.

She looked like one too, with her sharp eyes and rigid features.

"Ms. Rushman, I assure you, there's an explanation for this. You don't know the whole story." Morita interrupted.

"Enlighten me."

"It seems as if Owen has been lightly teasing Lainey and she retaliated by busting his nose. The two got into an altercation, and he gave her a back eye."

"Is light teasing your euphemism for bullying?"

"I just tugged on her hair a little and bumped her shoulder." Owen shrugged.

"Don't ever put your hands on my child again." Natasha pointed at the freshman boy. "She doesn't come here for that. And you." She turned to Lainey. "I've already told you about punching people's light out when they upset you. If he pushed you, I wouldn't have been upset if you pushed him back, but you drew blood. You crossed a line and you're very lucky you didn't break anything."

"I wish I had." Lainey mumbled, not willing to admit her defeat.

"What was that? Speak up so I can hear you."

Lainey shook her head and clamped her mouth shut, slumping down in her chair.

"What's their punishment for this?"

"Well, they're both going to be suspended for the rest of the week."

"Alright, I'm signing her out now. She has an appointment."

"For what?" Lainey snapped.

"Now is not the time."

* * *

"I don't need to see a shrink." Lainey grumbled as she was dragged into S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Yeah well, I disagree. Two fights in the span of two days? Either you have an issue, or you're just plain nasty."

"Let go of me." Lainey stopped walking, but was tugged forward.

"You don't want to make a scene. Not in here."

"Yes I do." Lainey smirked and tugged on her arm.

"I will drag you all the way down to that office by your ear if you keep this up. It's a long walk. It's up to you."

Lainey paled at the threat and put a temporary end to her rebellion.

"That's what I thought."

"Whatever." Lainey rolled her eyes, only for Natasha to let go of her arm and grab her ear. "Ow!"

"I wasn't kidding."

"Okay! I'll stop!"

Natasha smirked and let go of her ear, pretty satisfied with her results. "Walk."

Lainey huffed and childishly crossed her arms.

She was clearly annoyed by the barbaric way Natasha had just gotten her to comply and was plotting on ways to get even.

Baby powder in a blowdryer always got a desired effect.

She had done it to Wanda one day, and she had almost strangled her.

The powder went _everywhere, _but in the end, it didn't really seem worth it, because she had to clean everything up _and_ she had to do Wanda's bidding for a whole week.

If she did it again, everyone would know she was the one who did it, so that didn't seem like a viable option.

She'd think of something. She wasn't going to let all these adults push her around for much longer.

Just because she was small, didn't mean was weak.

Which brings up another good point. Why on earth would her mother want to bring her to see a shrink?

She didn't need to see one! She was fine!

It wasn't her fault that people had been aggravating her more than usual these days. If it wasn't one thing, it was another, Someone always wanted to talk to her, or ask her how she's doing, or try to make her smile. They didn't understand that sometimes she just wanted to be left alone!

Natasha was worried for no reason at all.

Okay, _maybe_ she had a scary outburst the other day, but that didn't mean she needed help. It just meant that she should probably take it easy from now on. She wasn't carrying any trauma.

She was fine. Absolutely—

"Well hello Alayna, I'm Felicity. Your mother has told me a lot about you. Won't you come in and sit down?" A friendly looking woman interrupted Lainey from her thoughts.

She had blonde hair and green eyes. Her voice was calm. Too calm, and her smile was too wide for Lainey's liking.

"Go on." Natasha gently nudged her into the room. "I'll be back in an hour."

An hour? That's how long Natasha expected her to stay in here?

No way.

"And if you're good, we'll stop by that ice cream parlor you like on the way home." The redhead winked.

Lainey sometimes wondered if Natasha could read minds like Wanda.

The only thing that could get Lainey to stay in this place and comply, would be ice cream.

That was a cheap shot.

"You two have fun." She kissed Lainey's forehead softly before leaving. "I love you."

Those three words got Lainey to calm down considerably.

They always did. She loved to hear people tell her they loved her even if she'd never ever admit it.

"How are you feeling today?"

There does that question again!

"Alright." Felicity kept the smile on her face, despite receiving no answer. "Why don't I start? Your mother told me that she's a little worried about you. You've been lashing out at people, fighting, and she told me that the other day, you had a breakdown."

"I did _not_." Lainey denied vehemently.

It wasn't a breakdown. It was a lapse in judgement. An outburst even.

But definitely _not_ a breakdown.

"How would you describe it?"

"Well...…." Lainey started, looking at her surroundings for the first time. She was sitting in a big comfy chair that practically swallowed her. The room was nice and neat. Not one thing was out of place, but it didn't make her feel like she had to keep her hands in her lap for fear of touching anything. There was a bookcase in the corner, with all sorts of books; children's books, classics, graphic novels, science fiction, every genre Lainey could think of.

But one book in particular caught her eye.

_Pollyanna._

"Do you like to read?" Felicity asked her, following her gaze.

"Yes."

"Why don't you go over there and see if you find anything you like?" She suggested, realizing that this might be the way to get Lainey to open up.

Lainey slowly stood up and made her way over to the bookcase and ran a gentle finger across the spines of the books, stopping at _Pollyanna._

She had read a long time ago and she remembered exactly what it was about. She always felt a little jealous of how happy Pollyanna always seemed to be no matter how bad things got.

She had always managed to see the good in everything.

And Lainey could only see the bad.

It was so _frustrating_.

"Have you ever read it?" Felicity asked, motioning for her to grab the book and sit back down.

"Mmhmm." Lainey responded once she was in her seat. "I borrowed it from the school library. I read it one sit sitting, I couldn't put it down."

"What is it you liked about it?"

"I don't know."

"I think you do, but how about you tell me something you didn't like about it?"

"She was so happy." Lainey grumbled, looking down at the book with contempt. "She always had a stupid smile on her face and she always had something nice to say about everything. She played that stupid 'Glad Game' and made everything seem not so bad."

"Why didn't you like that? It seems like a wonderful thing."

"Because no one can be that happy all the time." Lainey scowled. "There must've been something that made her upset. She lost everything and yet, she was sooo happy. It makes me sick."

"Lainey, do you think that you don't like Pollyanna's sunny disposition because you find that you're not happy a lot the time yourself?"

Lainey's head shot up and she looked at Felicity with wide eyes. "I'm happy sometimes."

"When?"

"When I hit Owen Thompson today after he pushed me." Lainey smirked at the memory.

"Lainey, that's not happiness. That's misplaced rage." Felicity corrected her. "That same rage made you lash out at Peter and it's making you snap at others. Can you tell me how you felt after you hit Peter?"

"Good at first, cause I thought he was making fun of me, but then Mama came and pulled me off of him. I knew I was in trouble, so I got really scared."

"Why?"

"Because I knew she was gonna yell at me."

"Has she ever yelled at you?"

"Well…...no, but I never hit anyone before either."

"What makes you so afraid of yelling?"

Now they were getting to the heart of the problem.

"First you start off yelling, then you start hitting."

"Has Natasha ever hit you?"

"No, but I hit Peter." Lainey reiterated.

"So you thought that because you hit Peter, Natasha was going to hit you?"

Lainey nodded sadly and pulled her knees up to her chest, refusing to look at Felicity.

"You said earlier, that you thought Peter was making fun of you. Was he?"

"No, he was only playing, but he made me so mad that I hit him."

"What did he say?"

"It's stupid." Lainey shrugged. "He said that when I hug people, I look like a little koala. It shouldn't have made me react like that, but it did."

"Why were you so upset by it?"

"Because I don't want anyone to stop."

Felicity looked at the small child in front of her and she felt for her.

Natasha had told her everything that had happened to her, and she had to admit that that was a whole lot to deal with for a girl so young.

The first few months since the adoption were great, the honeymoon phase, Lainey wasn't disagreeable and she had absolutely no signs of trauma.

She appeared to be a well rounded individual.

But then time passed and she became more accustomed to her routines and she was more comfortable in her surroundings.

So it was time to test the waters.

That's where the snapping and the fighting were coming from.

She wanted to see what would happen if she were to "mess up" and do something that wasn't normally tolerated.

Something drastic.

In Lainey's case it started with a few eye rolls and foot stomps, then smart comments and defiance, which escalated to physical violence and attacks.

'Stop what?"

"Hugging me." Lainey's voice cracked with a whisper.

"Why would they stop hugging you because of what Peter said?"

"Cause then they'd see that I'm too clingy and they'd think that I'm annoying."

"I see." Felicity nodded. "Why didn't you tell your mother that?"

"I can't!" Lainey insisted. "She'll get upset and she'll think I'm ungrateful!"

"I don't think so."

"She will!"

"Why don't you ask her?" Felicity looked at something behind Lainey and watched as the girl looked in that direction.

"Is that what you think?" Natasha asked, stepping into the room, kneeling in front of Lainey.

Great, she heard.

Now the truth was out and Lainey wasn't going to hear the end of it.

"Lainey?"

"Yes."

"Why? Anything you need, you ask me for, I don't care what it is. That's what I'm here for. I won't ever think any less of you for wanting or needing something from me."

"No?"

"No."

"Oh."

"Yeah, _oh_." Natasha smirked. "I'd hate to think that a lot of things could've been avoided if you had just come to me from the start. Hmm?"

"Sorry."

"We'll talk more about it later." The redhead winked and stood up. "Why don't you go out to the hall for me? I need to speak to Felicity about something and then we'll go for some ice cream."

"Okay." Lainey zipped up her jacket and went to put the book back before Felicity stopped her.

"You hold onto that and bring it back during the next session. Can you do something for me?"

"Yeah."

"Can you read that book and write down what you can do to make yourself feel better when things don't exactly go the way you want them to?"

"I can do that."

"Good. Have a great week, I'll see you next Tuesday."

"Bye." Lainey waved and left the room, taking in a deep breath.

That wasn't so bad.

And she didn't feel so angry anymore.

* * *

"Don't eat it all at once." Natasha joked, watching as Lainey stared at her melting ice cream.

But Lainey didn't take notice of her, she just scooped up the treat and watched it fall off the spoon.

"Lainey?"

"Hmm?"

"What's going on?"

"Nothing Mama."

"Lainey?" Natasha gave her the best 'Mom Look' she could create.

"Did you mean what you said earlier? About me needing things and asking for them?"

"Of course I did. Why?"

"No reason."

"Alayna."

"I'm sorry." Lainey said suddenly. "I haven't been fair to you. I've been really angry all the time and I don't know why and I took it out on you and everyone else…..…especially you.I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset."

"Lainey, can you look at me?" Natasha only continued when she saw Lainey's beautiful eyes looking into her own. "I'm not at all happy with the way you've been…...coping. However, I'm very happy that you feel safe enough to take it out on me—"

"— But that isn't fair to—"

"—No it isn't." Natasha nodded. "Which is why, I set up the appointment, because I know that you're having a hard time and you don't know what to do. I gave you some time to try and figure it out, and I probably shouldn't have waited so long, but you needed help. Felicity told me you have anxiety."

"I do not." Lainey crossed her arms. "Why would she say that?"

"I was the one who brought it up. I figured as much, with everything you went through, but that fight you had with Peter confirmed it."

"Well I don't have anxiety and I'm not going back."

"I have anxiety." Natasha added without threatening to drag Lainey back there by here ear come next Tuesday.

"You do?"

"Mmhmm." Natasha nodded in confirmation. "So does Steve, and Bruce, and Tony. Clint has it too, but he's very very good at coping with it. Admitting you get scared doesn't make you weak. But if you don't talk to us, we don't know what's going on and it just makes everything harder."

"I don't wanna go back." Lainey bit her lower lip to keep it from trembling.

The session wasn't bad, but that didn't mean she liked it.

"I'll talk to you I promise, I don't wanna go back Mommy." A few stray tears fell down her cheeks.

"Come here." Her mother opened her arms and lifted her onto her lap, cradling her to keep her from crying in the middle of the ice cream parlor. "Let me make a deal with you, if you agree to speak to us when something is bothering you, you don't have to go back to see Felicity."

"Really?"

"Really. But I mean it, you have to come to one of us if you're feeling out of sorts. I don't want to find you in the principal's office because you busted someone's nose again."

"Okay." Lainey agreed. "I'm sorry and I'll apologize on Monday."

"I know you will." The Russian pressed a kiss to her cheek, making the girl squeal and try to get away."See I like hugs and kisses too."

"Mama, we're in public! People are gonna look!"

"Do I look like I care? _Вас смущает ваша собственная мать_?" She dug her fingers in the girl's side.

Natasha had to put a hand over Lainey's mouth to keep her from screeching and disturbing everyone in the establishment. But it didn't keep people from looking and smiling in amusement. As Lainey giggled and tried to wiggle out of her mother's iron grip.

"Okay, okay. You finish your ice cream." She finally stopped and handed her the desert.

"Mama?" Lainey shoved a spoonful of her favorite food in the world into her mouth.

"Yes?"

"I…I….." Lainey tried. "_Te quiero mucho Mamá_. _Gracías por todos_."

It was much easier to say in Spanish than it was in English, but it still had the same effect. "I love you." She spoke sincerely now that it was out in the open.

"I love you." Natasha's voice was natural and soothing. "So much. I'd do anything for you, always remember that."

Lainey's day didn't start out great.

Her entire week didn't start out great, but she would relive everything just so she could get to this point.

And one day, one day she would come to realize that the bad things didn't have to happen in order for her to get to the good.

* * *

**_Miráme por favor cariño. Se puede niña - Look at me please, sweetheart. You can babygirl._**

**_Quién soy yo_? - Who am I?**

**_Вас смущает ваша собственная мать_? - Are you embarrassed by your own mother?**

**_Te quiero mucho Mamá_. _Gracías por todos - I love you Mama. Thank you for everything._**

* * *

**A/N: Hello! Thank you for reading thus far! Lainey hit a rocky patch in this chapter, good thing Natasha was there to catch her when she fell. (She always will be!) I hope you enjoy reading as much as I do writing! I am officially in quarantine so I have nothing but time on my hands! Send in your requests to entertain me and occupy my time! Your feedback means a lot and i enjoy reading you ideas! Stay safe XOXOXOXO**


End file.
